National Museums Scotland accused over Buckfast censorship

Tonic wine removed from new exhibition on Scottish life after pressure from the manufacturer

NATIONAL Museums Scotland (NMS) has been accused of "cowardly censorship" after withdrawing a bottle of Buckfast tonic wine from an exhibition of Scottish life after pressure from the manufacturer.

Museum directors ordered the removal of the product from inclusion in Scotland: A Changing Nation, an exhibition charting cultural developments over the past decade, which is due to open later this week.

A bottle of the tonic wine, which some politicians have blamed for a rise in drunkenness and antisocial behaviour among young people, was included alongside a can of high-strength lager, a drug resuscitation kit, a methadone leaflet and a blood-testing kit. The items were intended to highlight the growing social problems caused by drug and alcohol abuse.

Jane Carmichael, NMS's director of collections, and Catherine Holden, its director of marketing and development, ordered the removal of the Buckfast bottle after museum staff spoke last Friday to J Chandler &